Too Hot

Third day of vacation... and it is too hot... other than that we are having a great time. Yesterday we did some geocaching in Oregon... that was fun... not a lot different than Washington yet..just hotter and you think twice before putting your hands into piles of rocks....hoping to make it all the way home without having any visits with snakes.

We did pull over in a big empty lot for a cache right off of the freeway...and while we were there we watched a big storm moving across the sky... there was lightning and thunder and huge rain drops... went from what felt like 110 to about 85 degrees.... spent some time playing in the rain. Hiked up a 1/4 mile hill for a cache... it was hot... but great lookout and some neat looking grasses.

We made it to Boise last night and camped in the walmart. It is nice to be able to pull in at any time... most nights we drive until 1 or so... we can go in and use the rest room and stretch our legs a bit.. and they have A/C and are nice and cool....then in the morning we can pick up whatever we might need and head out.

Today we are heading to Salt Lake City... taking a scenic highway and hoping to see some waterfalls and if we are really lucky we will find an awesome place to swim for awhile and maybe have a bbq. Then we will spend tonight in another walmart.. tomorrow we do the copper mine and the salt flats... then well... this is the sort of vacation that we just do not know that far in advance... who knows... we may decide at dinner tonight to head back to the Oregon coast.

I am posting some photos on flickr... but at this point all my time on the computer is while we are driving and I am learning I am not very good at this.. if I am not careful my tummy gets a bit upset... I am hoping when we set up camp for a few days I will be able to get a few more photos uploaded. We are taking lots... having fun with the new camera.

now we are in Bliss Idaho and stopping to visit the restroom/stretch legs a bit and grab a cache... I will check in again soon :)

~Michelle

It Has Started

Vacation that is... we are under way and already can feel the stress just melting away. The last few weeks... months.. have been so busy and crazy... I am looking forward to some relaxing fun time with no worries.

We are about 2 hours from home.. getting ready to head over the mountains on I-90 into eastern Washington... tonight we will camp in a rest stop or a walmart.. that is one thing I love about the motorhome... just being able to pull over anywhere and camp for the night. I am sitting here typing this as we drive into North Bend.... learning where everything is on the lap top and playing with the new mapping and gps programs we have on it. We have not had time to do any geocaching at all in the last few weeks and I am really looking forward to finding some tomorrow... a couple in Washington and Oregon and Idaho I think... I am not really sure as the route is not the thing I am in charge of.... My job was getting everything cleaned and loaded... and biggest most important job will be food. Then we get home I will be in charge of cleaning and unloading... pretty much I have it easy.

Off I go.... kids have thier music plugged into their ears and I think Dave and I will put on some good music and enjoy the next couple of hours. I look forward to being able to log in while we are driving and share our vacation with you... I have made a skype account too and looking into some other ideas on ways to share this trip. I will keep you updated and if you have any ideas please let me know. There will be photos on my flickr site and videos on my youtube too :)

~Michelle and family

Passing of a Loved One

My grandma passed away this week and I have just gotten back from her service. On the way there and way back I was doing some thinking and talking to the kids about her and some of our memories of her. She was a very old grandma who had shared a wonderful long life with all of us. I know she is where she wants to be and I am happy for her. I am also sad. Not because she has passed but because we have all gotten so old. Talking with my sisters and my cousins and everyone today...I think how nice it would be to go back and we could all sit around the table and play games again and have grandpas ice cream. I can close my eyes and see, smell and feel her home.. so many smells of everything cooking... people laughing.. and arguing... and it is too warm.. it was always Hot at grandmas. That was what I was sad for... and well.. one can not go back..... but... I look around my life... and there is so much grandma in my every day happenings. I have a house full of kids who love to sit around and play games.. we still play all the games we used to play with grandma.. aggravation.. and zilch and skippo.. those are some of our favorite games. I look through my cooking blog and I see her recipes... cookies and grandpas ice cream.. .. I also have a pitcher of her favorite juice, lemonade and grape juice made together.. in my fridge every summer. I look over to the basket by my bedroom door... full of yarn and knitting and crochet hooks.. and her crochet bag she gave me is sitting in it. Every time a flower blooms in the spring I think of her and of the time I spent helping in her garden. We don't have to go back in time... I am taking her with me... every time we share in something that she shared with us. She will always be here not only in my memories but in my every day life... in the things I do and my kids do :)

I love you the mostest grandma and hey.. can you give grandpa a hug for me :)

~Shelly

Weight Loss Wednesday

Well I am sort of cheating but we will call it learning something new. I am writing this on Tuesday afternoon. I am hoping I have set this up to post on Wednesday morning but we shall see if I have done it right.

I woke up this morning knowing I would be super busy tomorrow so I got on the scale and did my weigh in a day early. I am happy to report that I am down a pound.. almost two. I walked a lot this last week on the treadmill and I also was just very very busy with not a lot of time to sit still. We had a lot of things to do to get ready for vacation, like cleaning the motor home and the house. I hate coming home to a dirty house. Plus with someone here I wanted to make sure it was all clean and all they would need to do is pick up after themselves :) *fingers crossed* We also washed the jeeps and everything... it is so much more relaxing on vacation to know when you get home the house is clean and the cars are ready for work on Monday. Besides the little odd ball things that have to be loaded and then our personal bags.. we are set to go.

My goal on vacation is to walk a lot... and to be aware of what I am eating and how much I am eating. I will also be drinking a lot of water.. everyone will be. It is vacation and I plan on having an awesome time.. but I also know that a lot of that will involve food. lol starting it off well with a big thanksgiving dinner tonight for sons birthday dinner... you know the son in December loves to have a BBQ on his birthday... go figure! We are bringing lots of healthier snacks and buckets of water... so that will help.

I am not sure how often I will be blogging from vacation... the plan is to be online a bunch... and yet.. it was last year and then it did not happen... just depends on how much down time we end up with... most often we are running from first light to last and past :)

~Michelle

Weight Loss Wednesday

Well.. this is not a post I want to make.. because.. nothing.. NOTHING has happened .. which I think is worse even than going up a little bit. I almost did everything I wanted to in the last week.. I did walk a lot.. NOT every day though :( I did eat good.. and I did drink a lot of water. Only problem I have with the water thing is.... the amount of times I have to run to the bathroom. I am noticing I have more energy... when I am awake I am more awake and when I am asleep.. well besides the shoulder, I seem to be sleeping better.

With the bike being all fixed up and the weather being nice we decided to go for a ride the other day.. and I went to put on my chaps and coat..... it was a experience with some mixed emotions. Six months ago I tried to put them on and there was no way either were going to fit at all.. I could not even get anything zipped... it was one of the big turning points for me. Now I can get them both on... the coat rides a bit high.. but I can zip it and wear it... I am going to start looking for a new coat now though.. a new style.. the one I have is from many years ago and well.. I want a new one :) The chaps.. I can get them on.. and zipped.. but... they do not fit well and my problem with them is that my legs are getting some muscles in places they did not have any before.. I am thinking I will get a new pair of chaps that fit a bit different... at least going to go try them on and see what I think.

With all that being said... I am going to keep walking... keeping tightening my core.. drinking lots of water.. running to the restroom.. and eating small healthy portions.. and see what happens.

Amazing Weekend

This weekend was great... spent a lot of time on Friday just hanging out with Dave. We took his mom to the doctors and then went and had a quiet lunch just the two of us at one of our favorite restaurants .... it was nice to just sit and visit. We came home and had some more time alone so spent it just talking and being together :)

We then took Missy and headed up to visit with my sister, her honey and my dad. My sister bought one of those pieces of property in a camp ground.... it is really nice.. and a bit closer to us than their home. They were up there this weekend camping and had dad with them so we wanted to go up and visit for a bit. It was really nice to sit around a camp fire and visit and have a bbq, a drink and just relax and visit with family. All growing up we did that a lot.. at home and while camping.. and until about 10 or 15 years ago we all lived pretty close together. It is one thing I do not like about all of us being grown up and having our own lives... I wish we all still lived closer together.

Saturday we got up and headed south... we have been trying for years to go watch the big rigs from Canada race.. and they have three races (this year only 2 I think ) here in Washington. We tried one year to see them in Monroe which is closer to us.. but it rained and we decided not to go since they don't do much in the rain... and most years we are just too busy and we miss them. This year worked out wonderful..... we headed south to South Sound Speedway and had a great night to watch. They did build the seating on the wrong side of the track and we spent some time dealing with the sun setting into our eyes.. but all in all.. it was wonderful. Love the small town feeling of the whole place. We found ourselves driving through Tacoma while they were having the Lewis-McChord Air Expo and it was amazing. As we were driving down the freeway I thought I saw a huge kite... well it was the stealth bomber and then some jets which shook the jeep and we ended up hitting the next exit and finding a great place to pull off the road and watch the planes for awhile. I have now added it to my list of things I want to go to.

Back to the racing.... there were lots of other racing too... from not very experienced with lots of restarts and wipe outs.. to the fancier cars that seemed to be going a lot faster. Thankfully no crashes where anyone was hurt. I know nothing about racing but I had a blast and look forward to going to more races now and learning a bit more about how it all works and the rules... it would be nice to know what is going on when they have to restart and everyone is in different positions and what not.

Today we are having a lazier day at home.. woke up late.. watched some tv... working in the shop :) the door handles on the motor home were falling apart.. so we looked into getting some new ones.. but they would cost a pretty penny.. so Dave decided to make some of our own. He took some old pieces of oak that used to be window sills in our house. He glued them together to get them to the right thickness and cut them to rough size. Then he traced the old door handles and headed to the table saw and band saw to cut them out. Sanded and routed and sanded some more.. drilled some holes and.... photos and blog post to follow when they are done :) I am doing some more cleaning on the motor home.. some blogging.. work in the garden.. and cleaning around the house... I think it is called puttering and looking busy :)

Am uploading more photos on to flickr and more videos on to youtube :)

~Michelle

Post Crossing

Thanks to some twitter friends I kept seeing their posts about postcrossing.com and had to go check it out myself. It was not long before I was signed up and had a profile filled out so I could play too. It is a site where you sign up with your address and a few more details and then you exchange post cards from all over the world. You request to send a post card, be sure to write the id number on it.. then when it is received they will enter it on the site to show it arrived.. your name will then go to the top of the list to receive a post card. So far I have sent 3.. two of them being to Florida and the last one I have sent to Russia. I have written to a 14 year old girl... a 31 year old mom of 2 and a man who did not share much on his profile.. but he likes postcards from where you are. I have received 2 postcards.... one from Berlin and one from Netherlands.

You do not write back and forth between these people... you most often just get one post card from them and then you write to someone else. If you are interested in writing back and forth you can include your address and then they have the option.. there is a spot on the site to show that you would like to do that or not.

I am enjoying sending postcards and getting them from lots of different places. It makes it exciting to go to the mail box every day and see what might be in there. To read a little bit from someone far away. I wish I had known about this when the kids were younger.. I think they would have enjoyed it... they seem to get a little excited and they want to read the postcards that come... but.. if I ask about them doing it I get the teenager eye roll and shoulder shrug.

~Michelle

New Shop Coming

Just a heads up... I have been working on getting a new shop up and running... one that will take the things I have learned over the last few years and put them together and hopefully be a lot of fun. The shop I have been running has been a lot of fun and a great learning experience. When I started all I made were personalized glass identifiers (wine charms) so the name Glass Identities was perfect. Over the years things have changed and I have a lot more going on in there than that and a lot more I want to put in there... so time for a change. The new shop is going to feature Sea Glass and Shells... two of my favorite items to work with these days. I love the long walks on the beach looking for treasures that I can make into fun items. I love getting to use the big drill press in the shop and having my own set of drill bits :) I am hoping to have the shop up and running and full of beautiful things by the end of August.

~Michelle

Weight Loss Wednesday

I am not being as good about posting every Wednesday as I would have liked.. but I have been doing great on walking almost every day on the treadmill... and have been eating ok..... water intake has been way up. All in all I am feeling a lot better again... walking every day gives me a lot more energy. Have been having some issues with my shoulder... pretty much it has been killing me. The worst part about it is that it seems that everything I do makes it hurt... walking is great.. but I can't swing my arms... I had fatty arm issues before I was in the accident... since then it has gotten worse... thanks to the PT I have muscles in my arms now.. on the top... but still have the wobble underneath :( So many things outside I want to do.. and yet... shoveling is out.. raking is out.. and pruning ( with big shears) is out... it isn't that I can not do things.. it is just that I do them.. and then for 3 days I hurt too bad to do anything. I also have to be very careful when I am doing things..... with everything I do I have to think about how I am reaching.. or turning....so frustrating. I do have another appointment with the doctor and I am hoping there is something else we can try... the one "specialist" says I am disabled and I am not liking that plan at all.

So back to the weight loss... I have not lost weight.. in fact I have gained a pound in the last two weeks... I am thinking it is a good thing though.. because I have started walking again and because I am doing it faithfully and a bit different than before.. I think I am getting some new muscles... hopefully in another week or two the pounds will start falling again. I have the treadmill set to almost straight up hill these days... at almost a run... from all of our hikes around here it is the hills that kill me. I can flat hike for miles.. so since we seem to have massive hills everywhere we want to hike. I am hoping this will help... and well I am having fun so am going with it.

weighing in at 238 up one pound